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“Hand me the sonofabitch, please, Lester,” Castillo said. “And we’ll see who is trying to keep me off the sauce.”
Bradley handed him the handset. Castillo looked at it.
“It’s your Cousin Aleksandr, Sweaty,” Charley said, then put the handset to his ear. Sweaty stood up and leaned over the Brick and pushed the LOUDSPEAKER button.
“And how are things on the shores of picturesque Lake Nahuel Huapi, Aleksandr?” Castillo asked in Russian.
“Speak English,” Sweaty ordered.
“Yes, ma’am,” Castillo said, glancing at her.
“Are you alone?” Pevsner asked.
“Clearly no. And Svetlana wants you to speak English.”
“What’s that all about?” Pevsner asked, in English.
“I can only guess that she wants her new buddy to hear what you have to say, and he doesn’t speak Russian.”
“Who’s her new friend?”
“Juan Carlos Pena, chief of the Policía Federal for Oaxaca State.”
“Have you been drinking?”
“Not yet. But make whatever this is quick, will you please? I’m about to start.”
“I gave you my word that I wouldn’t take any of several actions until I first told you.”
“Without my permission is the way I remember that.”
“I’m not in the habit, as you are well aware, of asking anyone for permission to do anything.”
“Why don’t you tell me what’s going on down there on the shores of Lake Nahuel Huapi?”
“I’m in Cozumel. How soon can you get here?”
“If you can convince me this is important and nothing happens between now and, say, nine tomorrow morning, I can be there in time for lunch.”
“I mean tonight.”
“Tonight’s out of the question. I can’t take off from here without letting the local airport—and this means the Policía Federal—know my airfield is capable of night operation. And I don’t want to throw away that tactical advantage.”
“I thought that you were friends with the local police?”
“Stand by a moment, Aleksandr,” Svetlana said. She motioned for Castillo to give her the handset, and when he had, she held it against her breast to muffle the microphone.
“You understand Carlito’s concern, Juan Carlos?” she asked.
He nodded.
“Who besides you would learn the field is capable of night flight if Charley were to take off right now?”
“Nobody,” Juan Carlos replied.
“And you can keep it that way?”
Pena nodded.
